Garden of Happiness
by Elf Asato
Summary: Tsuzuki and Hisoka are two roses in a garden. AU, death


**Title:** Garden of Happiness

**Author:** Elf Asato

**Pairings:** Tsuzuki/Hisoka, Terazuma/Wakaba

**Warnings:** AU, death

**Disclaimer:** Yami no Matsuei belongs to Yoko Matsushita, not me!

**Summary**: Tsuzuki and Hisoka are two roses in the Garden of Happiness.

**Notes:** This came to me in an odd sort of vision…and no, I'm not on drugs…

**Garden of Happiness**

**By Elf Asato**

            Have you ever wondered about the life of a flower?  When you pull off a leaf or cut a stem, do you ever wonder if they feel pain?  Have you ever wondered how a flower struggles to retain its individuality when it looks exactly like its neighbor?

          The truth is, flowers are just like the rest of us.  They live, they eat, they breathe, and eventually, they die.  Like humans, flowers feel sadness, pain, joy, and the need to be different.  Some flowers, though, would give anything to be the same as its neighbor.

          Not very long ago there was a rose growing alongside many other roses in a garden, and this rose's name was Tsuzuki.

          Do roses have names, you ask?  Of course they do – you can't just go up to any rose and call it that.  Like humans, all flowers have names.

          You just have to ask.

          It was a sunny day and like all living creatures, flowers love the sun.  Every flower in the garden was singing happily to the language of the wind – every flower, that is, except for the rose Tsuzuki.  Although the sun shone, Tsuzuki was not happy because he felt lonely and terribly, _terribly_ guilty.  You see, a few days before, there had been a blooming colony of roses beside him, but one by one they all disappeared, leaving only Tsuzuki there, alone.  He drooped with guilt because he knew that for him to grow tall and beautiful, his friends had to be sacrificed.  So no matter how beautiful the sun shone or how perfect the weather was, the lone rose would always droop with unhappiness.

          Although the only rose, Tsuzuki wasn't _completely_ alone in the garden – he had other flowers to keep him company, like his good friend the amaranth Tatsumi who had sprouted up out of the ground a little after he had.  The birds and bees also loved Tsuzuki because he was so nice to them and would try to cover up his thorns so they wouldn't be pricked.

          Tsuzuki loved the woman who tended to the garden each day – Wakaba.  All the flowers loved her and the animals did, too.  She was so nice to each and every flower and sang as she watered them individually.

          Flowers and all plants love to hear singing music because although they can't hear it like they hear the wind, they _feel_ it and that makes them grow better.  Wakaba was an expert gardener so she knew that all flowers required a little sunshine, water, and love; she provided plenty of that.

          Wakaba lived in a tiny little house with her husband, Terazuma.  Although he wasn't an expert gardener like his wife, he liked to take pictures of her "children" and put them on display in an art gallery.  Terazuma was a photographer and knew how to make a picture just perfect, but even so, the flowers never earned him an award.  That was all right, though, because _they _thought her garden was beautiful.  Though he rarely tended to Wakaba's garden, she had him perform a very special and important job – giving each new plant its own name.

          You can see why all the living things loved Wakaba and her husband, Terazuma.  The two of them gave everything they came across exactly what it needed most – love.  Because of this, all the plants in the garden prospered and Terazuma accurately named the place the Garden of Happiness.

          …It seemed Tsuzuki was an exception, though.  Every day Tsuzuki would droop even further with guilt because Wakaba would pour her heart into trying to make him happy.  The rose loved her, he really did, but he felt so guilty over everything that he couldn't help slowly dying.

          When spring changed into summer and Terazuma helped his wife plant another flower in the garden, he was surprised that the rose was still alive.

          "Wakaba," he said gesturing to Tsuzuki, "are you sure this one is getting enough water and sunlight?"

          "I think so," she said a bit hesitantly as she worried over the rose like she did every day.  "I thought that maybe it wasn't getting enough nutrients, so I added fertilizer to the soil, but _that_ didn't even work…"

          "Spring's over so it's probably due to wilt anyway…" Terazuma told his wife, who stared at her new flower, the summer adonis, sadly.

          The new summer adonis was named Watari and he turned out to be the most cheerful flower in the garden – he even got Tsuzuki on occasion to forget his sadness and guilt, but it still wasn't enough to pull the beautiful rose out of its depression.

          One summer day, Wakaba and her husband went out into the garden with a new flower at hand.

          "Are you sure this flower will survive out here?" Terazuma asked cautiously as he and his wife planted the flower near Tsuzuki, who craned his stem to see his new neighbor.

          "Any flower will survive out here!" Wakaba countered, indignant.  "Why, just look at that exotic amaranth we have!  Amaranths are supposed to grow in the tropics, but Tatsumi's been growing here just beautifully.  This rose will survive as well."

          Although he didn't like to show it, Terazuma cared deeply about the flowers, much like his wife.  "But it won't have long to bloom, Wakaba," he said in concern.  "Summer will be over in a few weeks."

          "And in those few weeks, this rose will be happy and bloom beautifully, I'm sure of it!  Now, Terazuma," she asked, "what will its name be?"

          As he did with every plant, Terazuma thought long and hard about this one.  "I think," he said, "we'll call it Hisoka.  The rose hasn't quite bloomed yet, so I think the insides will be a secret to our bees until it does."

          As always, Wakaba was pleased with her husband's choice, and they went inside to cook dinner together.

          Tsuzuki watched the new rose with curiosity, but he was too shy to welcome it.  Watari, though, was not shy so he greeted the newcomer enthusiastically, but Hisoka showed no signs that he even heard the adonis.

          For days Tsuzuki watched as the beautiful rose drooped and refused to bloom, much like himself.  He was happy that he wasn't alone anymore, but secretly he was afraid that the little rose wasn't doing so well because of him.  One day, he decided to do something about it.

          "Mr. Bee!" called Tsuzuki to a bumblebee hovering nearby.  "Oh, do you have a name?"

          The fat bumblebee landed gracefully on the rose's petals and answered, "My name is Gushoshin, thank you for asking.  Why aren't you blooming?  Don't you want me to spread your pollen?"

          Tsuzuki blushed and replied, "Well…I'm not quite ready to bloom yet…  But Gushoshin, I wanted to ask you a favor.  Could you fly over to Hisoka, the other rose, and ask him if he's okay?  He refuses to even acknowledge the other flowers and I'm worried about him."

          The bee gestured to tell the rose that he understood and flew slowly over to Hisoka, landing on the closed petals like he did with Tsuzuki.  The elder rose watched in anticipation as Gushoshin flew back to him.

          "He's shy," the bumblebee answered calmly, "and like you, he doesn't think he's ready to bloom."

          "But," Tsuzuki protested, "I think he'd be so beautiful if he bloomed!"

          "He doesn't think so."

          "…Really?" he asked in surprise.  How could Hisoka _not_ know that he was most beautiful flower Tsuzuki had ever seen?  "Well…tell him _I_ think he's beautiful.  …And tell him to not be shy!  We're all very friendly and I'd like to talk to him."

          Again, Gushoshin bumbled its way over to Hisoka, landed, and then flew away – this time returning to make its rounds with the other flowers.

          Tsuzuki watched as the young rose's droop lessened, and he heard a timid voice in the language of flowers say, "Hello…"

          "Hello," he returned, "how are you today?"

          Hisoka's timid voice was just barely audible to Tsuzuki.  "…I'm fine.  How are you?"

          Tsuzuki's droop lessened considerably as well and he brightened.  "I'm just fine, too.  How do you like our garden?"

          "It's nice," he answered, "and the lady is nice, too."

          Their flower conversation was interrupted when Wakaba stepped out into the garden and, upon seeing the two roses, yelled out to her husband, "Terazuma, come look!  The roses aren't drooping anymore!"

          Terazuma _had_ to see this.  He quickly ran out and when he, too, saw the roses, he couldn't believe his eyes.  "You were right as always, Wakaba.  The two of them seem to be doing just fine.  Did you do anything differently in your care?"

          "No," Wakaba shook her head, "I just did the same thing I always do.  …But I told you that they would get better, didn't I?  Maybe in a couple days they'll bloom!"

          Wakaba and Terazuma seemed confident that the roses would bloom soon, and as the days passed and the two roses got to know each other more, it seemed more likely to happen.

          Tsuzuki and Hisoka were best friends by the time two weeks had past and true to Wakaba's word, they both agreed to bloom on the same day.  Although this seemed an act of friendship, it was something more.  The more they talked, the more they were sure that they were falling in love.

          Let me tell you a little about flowers in love.  It's no coincidence that they say love blossoms like a flower because when a flower in love blooms, it's a hundredfold more beautiful than a regular flower.  It's a common fact among flowers, but virtually unknown to humans, that certain types of flowers need to fall in love to bloom – and a rose just happens to be that type.

          On the day that Tsuzuki and Hisoka bloomed, the weather was perfect and a gentle breeze carried across the garden.  The sun shone brilliantly and the surrounding animals sensed it was a special day because they came out of hiding to watch the spectacle of roses blooming.  When Wakaba found this out, she was so happy that she cried, and Terazuma chose the two as the subject for the photograph he would enter in the yearly contest.

          For the first time ever, Tsuzuki was free of all the sadness and guilt he had felt.  It was so wonderful to feel that alive…but something troubled him…

          "Tsuzuki…" said the amaranth Tatsumi one day, "it's wonderful that you and Hisoka have bloomed…but summer's over and autumn is here.  You may have noticed that the weather has been growing colder…  I've heard from the others that this is only your first year of growing, so you probably don't realize that the first frost will come soon."

          "First frost…?  What's that?" Tsuzuki asked his friend.

          The amaranth explained solemnly, "It's when the weather is bitterly cold for the first time and the land is covered in a layer of frost.  …The first frost kills most plants."

          "What?!" Tsuzuki panicked.  "That's awful!  What can we do?"

          "Since you're perennial, you don't have to worry much.  When the frost comes, you'll just sleep peacefully within the earth until the weather warms up.  …For annuals like Watari and myself…it's death."

          The rose started to cry, and when a rose sheds tears it is both a hauntingly beautiful yet heartbreaking sight.  "You can't leave, me, Tatsumi!  You've been my best friend!  What will I do without you?  What will we all do without Watari?  He's so cheerful!"

          "When spring comes again next year, you'll meet new flowers and have your old love Hisoka with you.  It's the cycle of life, Tsuzuki.  Please accept it.  I just wanted to let you know before it was too late."

          Tsuzuki understood and accepted the harsh reality, but that couldn't stop him from crying.  When he told Hisoka of the truth, Hisoka drooped until the other rose got to the part about them coming back together.

          Yes…as long as they came back together, they could endure any hardship.

          One day in the middle of autumn, Terazuma came home with happy news.  "Guess what, Wakaba!" he said excitedly as he picked up his wife and twirled her around.  "That picture I took of our roses finally won me an award!"

          Wakaba hugged her husband and said excitedly, "Oh Terazuma, that's wonderful!"  Then she grew sad and murmured, "But this morning…"

          Like the caring husband only she knew him to be, Terazuma asked what was wrong.

          "…Surely when you went out this morning you noticed that the first frost had come…"

          Terazuma was surprised and sad at this news – he hadn't even noticed the bitterness of the weather.  "Are the flowers…?"  Wakaba shook her head and he knew.  Terazuma was going to miss naming those flowers until spring came again…

          The following spring…

          Spring had sprung, so to say, and the outdoors was bustling with new life.  In Wakaba's Garden of Happiness, two small perennial herbs curiously resembling roses erupted from the soil.

          Tsuzuki knew that at that moment when he woke up from his sleep, that Tatsumi always told him the truth.  He came back and, seeing the other half-asleep rose, Hisoka came back as well.  As the garden grew with new life, the only thing that seemed missing was his best friend Tatsumi and the ever-cheerful Watari…

          "Oh Tsuzuki, look over there!" Hisoka got his attention as he motioned with a leaf to a small plant growing.

          "Hello and good morning!" Tsuzuki called out to the new plant.  "I'm Tsuzuki Rose and this is Hisoka Rose!  What are you?"

          The newborn plant just stared around, taking in everything with its new life in fascination, before answering, "Um…I don't know.  I think I'm an amaranth.  …Or maybe I'm an adonis?  I saw one underground when I was down there.  I don't think it's quite ready to come up yet, though.  It told me that the season wasn't quite right for it…"

          Tsuzuki beamed.  "I used to know an amaranth and you look like one, so I think you are!"

          At that moment Wakaba and her husband came into the garden to admire the new flowers.  "You have a lot of naming to do!" she told her husband playfully.  As of late, Wakaba was always in a good mood and she knew it had something to do with the child they were expecting in a few months.

          "Yes," agreed Terazuma proudly, "I have both flowers and a future daughter to name."

          Wakaba gestured to the new amaranth and exclaimed, "Oh look, an amaranth!  Told you they would grow nicely in our garden!  …What shall we name it?"

          As always, Terazuma thought about this.  Finally he came to a conclusion.  "As the first sprouting annual, it shall be called…Hijiri."

          "Hello Hijiri," she smiled warmly at the new plant, which felt itself growing even more from her radiant love.  "And look, the roses returned!"

          Terazuma smiled and remembered how the picture he took of them blooming won him the award he always wanted.  "Yes…yes they have."

             With happiness and excitement for the new year, Tsuzuki remembered that yes, as long as he and Hisoka came back together, they could endure anything.

**Owari**

I know absolutely nothing about flowers – can you tell?  XD

5/11/03


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